


settle down

by bluesummernights



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: + his friends worry abt his life choices, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, i suck at summaries rip, ill add tags as the story progresses dont u worry, sal overworks himself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-01 10:10:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17865320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesummernights/pseuds/bluesummernights
Summary: After pulling countless all-nighters to pass his finals, Sal's friends decide to celebrate surviving those by going to a recently opened café near their university. There, Sal meets an equally tired as kind looking face he's not seen before.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first attempt at a fanfic in forever and while my motivation for writing is always there, finding an idea i feel satisfied with isnt exactly, haha.  
> i thought writing something i enjoy reading myself would help and it really did, so i hope you'll enjoy this slice of life-y coffee shop au !

"I... can tell through your mask that you definitely need at least like… ten weeks of sleep, Sally Face," Ash said, laughing, a little nervous, mostly concerned. The mop of messy blue hair beside her met her eyes briefly before looking forward again. "'m fine... it's just... one more exam, anyway..." he replied groggily, barely able to string a sentence together without long pauses between every word.

They were on their way out of the building, just having finished another exam.

 

Finals season had arrived, and it definitely wasn't being easy on Sal. He'd been dead set on doing really well despite barely having shown up to any lectures, so now he had only a handful of weeks left to finish the work that had been piling up over the course of the entire semester. It was his own fault, sure, but nobody was going to look at this human embodiment of exhaustion and get entertainment out of pointing out the obvious.

 

"Sure, yeah, as long as you promise that you won't pass out at your desk and _actually_ get some proper rest for a change?" "Mhh.. we'll see..." Ash sighed deeply, making it known just how frustrated she was with him, but decided to drop the topic for now. "I'll check up on you tonight, don't make Todd and me worry too much!" They waved each other goodbye and left in opposite directions.

 

Sal did not _completely_ ignore Ash's request. He did nap after the exam, but here he was, stuffing his keys and some money into his pocket before heading out at 10 pm to get some food for yet another late night study session. There was a small convenience store just a few minutes of walking distance away from his dorm. It looked a little shady, especially at night, but that just added to the aesthetic of the situation he was in. The lights of the shop sign were flickery and no matter what time you came to visit, there would be a group of rebellious teens hanging around... being rebellious and all that. Sal didn't really understand what could be rebellious about a convenience store, but if it made them happy and they didn't hurt anyone, he thought - eh, whatever.

He walked in, making a beeline to the instant noodles, grabbing three cups (just to be sure) and a bag of chips from the snack aisle. Lastly, he went to the coolers and, without having to think long, grabbed his usual energy drinks of choice. As if they could smell his bad life decisions, his phone vibrated in his pocket, alerting him to a couple of new messages from his group chat with Todd and Ash.

 

 **Ash:** _@Sally_ told ya we were gna check up on u hope ur already in bed tbh its getting late

 **Todd:** I hope so too. More importantly though, did you eat properly today?

 **Sally:** Define properly

 

He opened up the camera to take a quick snap of his basket and sent it to the group, letting out a snort as soon as the next few replies came in.

 

 **Sally:** **_[image]_**

 **Todd:** Oh wow.

 **Ash:** DUDE

 **Ash:** take those out of the basket RIGHT NOW

 **Sally:** I'm already at check-out lol

 **Ash:** i cant believe u. how are u even alive

 **Todd:** You know you wouldn't have to do this if you just... showed up to the lectures... and studied…? And not force yourself to memorize everything the day before finals?

 **Sally:** Would've been too easy, they'd realize I'm a super genius, I have to be fair lol

 **Ash:** and thats why you have to stay up super late every day to desperately try and learn the material, sure

 **Sally:** Hey now

 

He put his phone away when it was time for him to pay, took the bag of groceries (the term “groceries” being used very loosely) from the exhausted looking cashier and made his way back to the dorms. Once he arrived, he put everything where he needed it to be and started to boil some water for his dinner. He stretched as he was waiting for the water to heat up, checking the group chat once again and reading the latest messages, Todd wishing him and Ash a good night and Ash announcing that she would go marathon some series to reward herself before slowly starting preparation for the last exam. Not much later he poured the water into the cup, waited for the noodles to be done, poured the water back out and seated himself at his messy desk - everything he could possibly need for the exam splayed out and marked with various highlighters and post-its. He undid his prosthetic, putting it down in a free spot on his desk and started to dig into his noodles. He lived alone in his dorm room, so he didn't have to worry about anyone waltzing in disturbing his peaceful silence.

 

After a couple of hours he decided he'd have to go throw away the empty noodle cup or else it was going to annoy him all night. He felt exhaustion seep into his bones once more, but he couldn't bring himself to end his studying session just yet, so he got up, disposed of the cup and grabbed one of his newly bought energy drinks from his small fridge. While taking his first sip he checked the clock on his wall: 2:13AM. A regular night, he bitterly thought to himself.

 

At around 6AM he finally decided it was time to get some sleep; in the end, an energy drink simply could not replace a good night’s rest - and the logical part of his brain that was still intact through all of this knew it would be counterproductive to fight sleep off forever. He changed into a thin long-sleeve shirt and some loose shorts to sleep in, carefully removed his glass eye and put it into a cup filled with the prescribed solution and snuggled into his sheets. Checking his phone one last time, he noticed a couple more messages from Ash.

 

 **Ash:** yo i have an idea

 **Ash:** how about we like... go to a rly nice café after the last exam? As a reward we all did it

 **Ash:** i mean i would've said a restaurant but idk if our finances are gonna allow something fancy like that this month uhh so yeah

 **Ash:** there's a new café that opened up not too far away from uni, it looks rly nice and i think it's a good idea to get a certain someone to get sth proper to drink + eat... not gonna look at any1

 **Ash:** ok im going to bed now good night zzz

 

Sal stared at his screen for a couple of seconds, thinking about what Ash had proposed. He wanted to roll his eye at that remark, but she wasn't wrong. His body was constantly screaming for rest and proper nutrition, and a café sounded budget-friendly enough. He typed away a reply and sent it, putting his phone away and settling into his sheets for some well-deserved rest, at least for a little while.

 

 **Sally:** alright, as long as they serve stuff other than coffee sign me up.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, everyone, hand in your papers. I don't want to see anyone writing, or else you’re in big trouble," the professor grumbled from behind his desk, glancing at the clock as the exam came to an end. The students started handing in their papers, placing them on the table and rushing out into the hallway. Some desperately tried to squeeze in a quick last sentence, frustration written all over their face as they had to scrap that amazing point they had thought of mere minutes before the deadline.

 

Sal, Ash and Todd went to hand in their work together, having made eye contact before to make sure they were all finished and would be leaving at the same time.

Todd seemed the most relaxed; he had stayed on top of his assignments and had started studying early enough so that he didn't feel underprepared at all.

Ash was the second most relaxed, despite being the one who had done the least work in preparation. She would slack off before every exam and only properly studied for about two days at most, but just like Todd she kept up with the lectures so she tended to get away with it despite the lack of intense cramming sessions.

 

And lastly, there was... Sal.

Sal had… not really changed from being an  _ absolute mess _ , especially during this past week. His friends were convinced the only time he had eaten something proper in the weeks leading up to their finals was when they had all met up to study together at Todd's place and his boyfriend had made them dinner. And, unsurprisingly,  that thought was not far away from reality.

It's not like Sal always had problems taking care of himself, not at all - he usually ate well, tried to maintain a healthy sleep schedule, and all that.

There was just something about realizing he had lazed off until right before the exams yet desperately not wanting to fail any of them that made him go into a state of constant, underlying panic. As funny as sending his friends yet another pic of his messy desk at 3 AM that screamed "help me" was, his anxiety had become unbearable during these few weeks - and that was no joke.

Naps had been both a blessing and a curse for Sal, as half of the time his dreams would feature him being the only one who managed to horrendously fail every single exam, feeling small and hot with shame under the eyes of everyone - his friends, his professors, his dad - as they towered over him mockingly.

But that was over now. There wasn't a lot he could do except wait for the results - and strangely, knowing that he couldn’t change the outcome anymore relieved some of his anxiety.

 

The second the three had walked out the door, Ash pulled Sal and Todd into a bear hug, a big grin on her face. "We did it..  _ we did it!!" _ She shook both of them in the hug, resulting in a noise of complaint from Todd, who was smiling nonetheless.

"We sure did,” he said, voice dripping with relief. “We all worked so hard, let's hope it was worth it. Especially for Sally over here.” He chuckled softly. Ash let both of them go, nodding in agreement as she folded her arms. "I swear to God, Sally Face, if they make you fail any of these stupid exams, I'll fight them," she said in a jokingly threatening tone. "Or  _ maybe _ he will just start studying a  _ little bit _ earlier next time...  _ ow! _ " Todd exclaimed as Ash's elbow hit his side, her expression telling him to cut it out.

"It's the truth. Don't silence me like that. I'm deeply wounded," he added dryly, which made her snicker.

"There’s no way you won't pass, dude! You're probably able to recite all that shit in your sleep now, right?" Sal shook his head - his hair, which was pulled into a ponytail so it wouldn't annoy him during the long exam, bobbing along as he put his hands up in defeat. "Nah. All gone.” He shrugged. “The second we left that room? My brain did a factory reset. Don't even know what I’m majoring in."

Sarcasm layering his voice to match Sally’s, Todd replied: "Aw, don't worry, you'll remember soon enough. Hopefully.” He smirked. “At least try to before you get your degree in god-knows-what." "Heh, I'll do my best, thanks doctor."

They all walked out, meeting a few familiar faces from their classes along the way, exchanging how they felt about the finals for a short while before they reached the bus stop by their uni.

 

"So, about that café. I’d like to go right now, you guys down?”, Ash asked. “We'd just have to take the next bus and drive two stops or so." She got her phone out, typing away for a bit before holding it up for the others to see what she was talking about.

The screen showed a Google image search of the aforementioned café. After agreeing to visit it like Ash had suggested, neither Sal nor Todd had done any further research on the place, so they curiously looked at the results.

 

The shopfront consisted of a large glass window, allowing the sun to illuminate the inside. It was located in a pedestrian area full of modern shops and the like which seemed to be quite busy.

The inside looked warm and welcoming, the tables either being accompanied by armchairs or benches filled with cushions. There were lots of plants everywhere, either along the walls or just sitting in pots. Combined with the natural light, it just seemed like a very comfortable place altogether.

All the signs consisted of blackboards in varying sizes with all the lettering done by hand, the menus accompanied by beautiful sketches of the featured drinks or snacks; the drawings obviously had a lot of love put into them and, despite not being actual photographs, made the menu items look incredibly appetizing.

Whoever did them really knew what they were doing, Sal thought to himself while scrolling through the pictures, before handing the phone back to Ash.

 

They all confirmed they were free for the rest of the day and hopped on the bus as soon as it arrived, getting out after five minutes or so. Ash led the way down the street, around a corner and there they were.

The place was a bit smaller than your average café, but not tiny either. Everything about it looked.. comfortable. Sal looked around at the people sitting outside, recognizing some familiar faces from one of his classes. Squinting at the few customers he could see inside, it seemed like almost everyone was his age - this was one of those hip, college-student-hot-spot type places.

 

They walked in, the doorbell chiming as an employee who was walking by carrying a big cup of coffee quickly, yet warmly welcomed them.

The photos definitely weren’t misleading, this place looked exactly like them - maybe even better. The lights were dimmed and sunlight was pouring in from the big window front, giving the entire room a bright yet cozy atmosphere.

Soft music played in the background, slightly drowned out by the sounds of people coming in, leaving, ordering and chatting happily.

Sal realized Todd and Ash had already walked up to the line at the counter and quickly followed suit. Glancing up at the menu, his initial worries that they might serve too many coffee variations and not enough other things to try were definitely proven wrong. They had a lot of variations of coffee, sure, it was a café after all -  but also lots of other things like shakes, juices, teas, you name it. He was interested in the variety of milkshakes they offered, deciding to order a strawberry chocolate one. Looking at his friends before him he saw that Ash was already placing her order to a by a blonde cashier who looked around their age.

 

Furthermore, he noticed that quite a lot of employees were working at once, allowing them to focus on one task at a time without the need to stress about multitasking. The girl from before was serving the tables and the blonde guy was taking the orders, which were being prepared by… 

_ Hm _ .

Sal’s eyes fell onto a tall, lanky employee who was pouring a fresh cup of coffee, using cream to draw a delicate pattern on it, before passing it to the blond guy who then handed it to a customer . His long, straight hair was up in a messy bun, except for two small strands framing his face. His slight hunch and the dark circles under his eyes seemed to indicate another poor soul lacking sleep, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it. To Sal he looked... strangely well-rested, despite his appearance… or… something. It was hard to pinpoint. He fit right in with the relaxed atmosphere of the café.  _ Relaxed _ . That's the word he was looking for.

Suddenly dark hazel eyes met bright blue ones.  _ Shit _ . Sal, caught like a deer in the headlights, didn't think to look away and instead decided to accept the fact that he'd been caught staring.

They held their gaze for a second, followed by a kind smile from the stranger. By the time Sal registered he didn’t weird him out, the employee had already turned around again to begin preparing the next order. Sal felt relieved, but no less embarrassed than before - the only thing keeping him from ditching his friends and curling up in hole, filled with shame from making a fool out of himself in public (or at least feeling like he did) was the fact that someone else was taking orders right now.

 

Or so he thought. Somewhere in between Todd ordering and actually receiving his drink, the brunette and blonde switched places, the latter grumbling about being tired of handling  the cash register. Todd left, letting Sal know where him and Ash were sitting so he could join them without having to look for them long - and so he was faced with his embarrassment from before.

"Hey, what can I get ya?", the barista asked Sal with a slight smile. His voice was... relaxing. Soothing, even. He noticed a mole on his right cheek. Their eyes met again. "Oh! Uh, sorry, I'll be getting a-... uh. That one." He pointed at the menu lying on the counter in defeat, giving up on ordering verbally as he noticed his embarrassment would just deepen if he tried. "Sure thing, coming right up. Anything else?" Sal shook his head, too embarrassed to make eye contact still. "Alright then, that'll be $2.95." He paid for his drink and put the change into his wallet. Fingers drumming on the counter, he tried to find a way to convince himself that he did  _ not _ just make this complete stranger think he was an absolute creep for staring and then not being able to form a coherent sentence. Not to mention his prosthetic was not helpful in making strangers think he wasn't one. He sighed.

Embarrassment was starting to turn into a bubble of sadness, threatening to burst if he continued that thought, so he tried to shake it off as best as he could. A strangers opinion didn't matter, he was here with his friends who accepted him wholeheartedly. If a stranger didn't, he shouldn’t care.

 

Said stranger had left the counter unattended for a bit but quickly poked his head back out from the storage room presumably, walking back over to resume his spot from before.

"Your mask is really cool,” he said and handed Sal a loyalty card. “Since it’s your first time here. If you collect ten stamps, you get a drink for free.” It took him a few seconds to process the words said to him. "...oh? Ah, thank you… and, this is a… prosthetic. Actually." He grabbed the card and awkwardly stuffed it into his wallet. "Shit, my bad, didn't mean to be rude... I still think it looks awesome, though. Don't think I've seen you here before?"

"My... friends took me here. Celebrating the end of finals season and all. She told me this place was pretty new...?" "Sure is.” He smiled again. “We opened up about a month ago or so. Congrats on making it through your exams - I finished a few days ago, too. We'll see about the results, I guess." Sal blinked, tilting his head a little. "You go to uni here too?" The brunette laughed and he noticed a gap in the front of his teeth.  _ Cute _ .

"I may look like a highschool dropout, but yeah. Guess you’re a fellow student then, weird how we haven't met before, but it’s a huge campus after all." He shrugged. "Yeah, that's true... I got lost all the time during my first semester..."

Now, things were taking a turn. At first Sal was ready to just bolt out of the door if he had to even look at the brunette again - and that was only a  _ slight _ over exaggeration - but now that he had been wrapped up in this comfortable conversation, he didn't even feel like leaving at all. He wanted to know more about the mysterious sleep-deprived-yet-functional looking uni student.

 

Just as the other was about to reply, the blonde barista from before pushed him aside to put Sal's shake on the counter, glaring slightly at his coworker.

"Just get back to work,  _ Johnson _ . I'm pretty sure neither of us get paid for chatting around." He turned towards Sal, looking at him with what must have been the least convincing fake smile possible on his face. “Enjoy your drink.” He rolled his eyes at ‘Johnson’ once more before turning around to fiddle with the coffee machines. Johnson, huh. "Dude, there isn't even a queue right now and I just brought in the new stuff from the back. We'll be fine,  _ Travis _ ,” Johnson complained. Johnson. Sal now had a name - be it a last name - to go off of. 

"We will  _ not _ be fine if  _ someone _ keeps slacking off like that. Please just go make yourself useful somehow, alright?" Travis scoffed and walked off, seemingly done with whatever he was doing. Sal looked after him until he disappeared into the storage room and then let his gaze fall back on... Johnson, who was sticking out his tongue at Travis before groaning.

"Sorry about that, dude. Been working with this guy since day one and he's always been this way. Always nagging around and shit. Annoys the hell out of me.” He sighed. “You go and enjoy your drink though, see ya around?" Sal snapped back into reality. "S-sure." 

They both exchanged a smile; Sal was frustrated that he couldn't convey it properly because of his mask, but something told him the other knew by how the corners of his eyes turned up a little that he was smiling too.

  
  


"Made a new friend? Got sick of us?" Ash exclaimed dramatically as Sal sat down facing her, giving her an unimpressed look. "Wouldn't even think of it. But yeah, the, uh… the cashier was really... nice." He hesitantly unbuckled the lower part of his mask to push the straw under it and take a sip. It tasted great.

"That's nice! I think I've seen him on campus before, don't have any classes with him though, so that's about all I know." "Seen him before too, pretty sure he's a fine arts major." Todd chimed in, sipping on his own coffee which he’d almost finished. Sal looked at him. "How do you know that? Have you talked to him before?" His genuine curiosity about the guy made Ash grin a little as she listened to the two. "No, but I don't think any other type of student would rush around town with a triple espresso in one hand and a giant stretched canvas in the other. Also looking like if they dropped that canvas they'd just flop down right next to it and stay there. You know. Just art major things." Ash held back a chuckle, coughing as she struggled not to choke on the sip she was trying to swallow as Todd said that. "Can't argue against that. And, if he's actually nice then that's great, meeting fun people in uni is a blessing, to be honest. I have this one class where nobody cares about making friends with anyone, it's  _ so _ painfully boring!” She groaned, taking another big sip from her Caramel Frappuccino. “We should've all just taken the exact same classes, anyway." Todd snorted. "Because that is possible with completely different majors." "Hey, one can dream, alright?”

The three of them kept chatting for a while until all their drinks were empty and they parted ways to go home, the charismatic barista’s smile still lingering in the back of Sal’s mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go, chapter 2! i'm regaining my motivation for writing really quick, but also came down with a pretty bad cold these past few days, so staring at a computer screen's still a bit hard at the moment... regardless, i hope you enjoy this + feel free to let me know what you think! <3

**Author's Note:**

> wouldn't have been able to get as far as to publishing something with confidence if it wasn't for my best friend being an amazing beta-reader + editor <3 love u


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